AIRMONT - The expansion of a religious school in the village has galvanized residents' opposition against what they see as an unsustainable development endemic throughout Ramapo.

Standing along Cherry Lane on a sunny weekday morning near where a Satmar religious school could soon be expanded to educate 2,000 students, resident Scarlett Mangeri said neighbors were uniting to prevent the proposal they believe was inconsistent with the residential character of the neighborhood and would stress village infrastructure to the limit.

“The residents here are fed up,” said Mangeri, 37. “We’re fed up of being bullied. We’re fed up with taxes being increased.”

Central United Talmudical Academy of Monsey has put forth an estimated $20 million proposal to build separate boys and girls schools at 236 Cherry Lane, said Steven Barshov, a lawyer for the academy.

Mangeri — who was joined by fellow residents Anthony Vertullo, 53, and Rick Klev, 48, on Wednesday morning — said neighbors questioned how 2,000 students, or the equivalent of nearly a quarter of the village’s population, would affect Airmont’s sewer systems, utilities and other infrastructure.

Cherry Lane is a two-lane road lined with homes. The site is adjacent to the Town of Ramapo’s Camp Scuffy, and near Cherry Lane Elementary School, which has a student population of approximately 328.

Residents raised concerns about how the narrow road could accommodate so many buses.

“It’s just too massive. It’s not right for this area,” Vertullo said.

The Tallman fire department recommended, among other things, widening Cherry Lane by at least 12 feet with curbing and sidewalks along the entire property to assure emergency access and alleviate anticipated traffic congestion, according to comments submitted to the village about the proposal.

"Any project that is going to have a substantial impact on the infrastructure of the community needs to go through the proper process, as far as the planning board, zoning board," Mayor Philip Gigante said.

The neighbors added that in a village and county where taxes were already notoriously high, the steady rise of tax-exempt properties built to accommodate the rapidly expanding ultra-Orthodox and Hasidic communities unfairly shifted the burden onto others.

“As the community changes and the tax base increases, yet the houses that are contributing to that tax base are diminishing, which in turn makes everybody else’s taxes to go up,” Klev said. “At the end of the day, it’s not sustainable.”

Zoning moratorium

Central UTA’s proposal comes at a time when the village is seeking to suspend all development for six months.

Airmont looks to follow other Rockland municipalities, such as Montebello, that have implemented temporary building moratoriums in order to update zoning and building codes, Gigante said.

“It’s prudent for municipalities to make sure that their zoning laws are up to date,” the mayor said.

The moratorium, which is expected to go before the village board for a vote this month, will block all residential and non-residential developments. Village boards continue to have “difficulty interpreting our code” when it comes to building proposals and are silent on numerous issues, Gigante said, such as fast-food restaurants. And anything not prohibited in existing code is legally permitted.

“If the law is silent on a certain issue, the boards must rule in favor of the applicant,” Gigante said.

The mayor said Central UTA’s proposal would not be affected by the moratorium.

In addition, Barshov said the proposal does not need any variances because the site is zoned for school use.

“Because this property is already zoned, my hope is that we’ll have a review that is appropriately limited to the actual issues before the Planning Board, which are site-plan related,” he said.